Sydney: A photograph of Rishabh Pant with Tim Paine’s wife and kids after the third Test in Melbourne proved that the Indian wicket-keeper is quite a sport. Now Australian captain Tim Paine, who had poked fun at Pant by asking him to babysit his kids, has taken to praising Pant for the colourful gesture. During a press conference, Paine said, “Yeah, that was interesting. We were at the PM’s house yesterday. Just had a quick chat to Rishabh. My wife was happened to be there so we just grabbed a quick photo. He was a good sport and he is on the field, to be honest.” In an Instagram story last week, Tim Paine’s wife Bonnie called Rishabh Pant the “best babysitter.” The story had showed Pant posing with the two kids of Bonnie and Tim Paine. This development was the result of a cheeky exchange between Pant and Paine during the Melbourne Test, where Paine had invited him to babysit his children sometime. During the Melbourne Test, Paine had advised Pant to join the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League in the wake of MS Dhoni’s returned to the Indian limited-overs set-up. The piece of advice was followed by the nasty “babysitting” jibe. Paine said, “Tell you what, big MS (Dhoni) is back in the one-day squad too, we might get him down to the (Hobart) Hurricanes this bloke, we need a batter. Fancy that Pant, extend your little Aussie holiday. Beautiful town Hobart too. Get you a nice apartment on the water front. Have him over for dinner. Can you babysit? (Can I) take the wife to the movies one night, you can look after the kids?” Soon after, Pant decided to give it back when Paine had walked out to bat for Australia. Pant had said, “Running away always, always running away. Too difficult, too difficult….We’ve got a special guest today. Have you heard of a temporary captain ever? Have you heard of it? Have you heard of anything like a temporary captain ever? You don’t need anything to get him out, boy. He loves to talk. That’s the only thing he can do boy. Only talking, talking.”
